---
title: Deploying only GraphOS Router in Docker
subtitle: Deploy router-only container image
description: Run an Apollo Router-only container image in Docker with examples covering basic setup, configuration overrides, debugging, and building custom Docker images.
---

import ElasticNotice from '../../../../shared/elastic-notice.mdx';

This guide provides the following examples of running an Apollo Router container image in Docker:

* Running a basic example with default configuration.
* Customizing your configuration to override the default configuration.
* Debugging your containerized router.
* Manually specifying a supergraph for your router.
* Building your own router Docker image.

The [documentation](https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/run/) for the `docker run` command is a helpful reference for the examples in this guide.

The exact image version to use depends on which release you wish to use. In the following examples, replace `<image version>` with your chosen version, for example `v1.32.0`.

<ElasticNotice />

<Note>This container image only contains the router. Apollo recommends using the [Apollo Runtime container](docker.mdx), which contains all Apollo runtime services.</Note>

## Basic example running router in Docker

To run the router, set the [`APOLLO_GRAPH_REF`](/graphos/routing/configuration/envvars#apollo_graph_ref) and [`APOLLO_KEY`](/graphos/routing/configuration/envvars#apollo_key) environment variables in your Docker container to your graph ref and API key.

Below is a basic example of running a router image with Docker, either with `docker run` or `docker compose`. It downloads your supergraph schema from Apollo and uses a default configuration that listens for connections on port `4000`.

You can use `docker run` with the following example command:

```bash title="Docker"
docker run -p 4000:4000 \
  --env APOLLO_GRAPH_REF="<your-graph-ref>" \
  --env APOLLO_KEY="<your-graph-api-key>" \
  --rm \
  ghcr.io/apollographql/router:<router-image-version>
```

You can also use `docker compose` with the following example `compose.yaml`:

```yaml title="compose.yaml"
services:
  apollo-router:
    image: ghcr.io/apollographql/router:<router-image-version>
    ports:
      - "4000:4000"
    environment:
      APOLLO_GRAPH_REF: "<your-graph-ref>"
      APOLLO_KEY: "<your-graph-api-key>"
```

Whether you use `docker run` or `docker compose`, make sure to replace `<router-image-version>` with whichever version you want to use, and `<your-graph-ref>` and `<your-graph-api-key>` with your graph reference and API key, respectively.

For more complex configurations, such as overriding subgraph URLs or propagating headers, see [Router Configuration](/graphos/routing/configuration/overview/).

## Override the configuration

Apollo's default Docker images include a [basic router configuration](https://github.com/apollographql/router/blob/main/dockerfiles/router.yaml). Inside the container, this file is located at `/dist/config/router.yaml`.

If you wish to override the default configuration, it is important to preserve aspects of the default configuration. In particular, it is generally important for the router to bind to and listen on the special address of `0.0.0.0` (for all interfaces) to ensure it's exposed on a network interface that's accessible outside of the local container. Without this configuration, the router will only listen on `localhost`.

You can provide your own configuration from the host environment to the router by mounting your configuration to `/dist/config/router.yaml` as follows:

```bash {4}
docker run -p 4000:4000 \
  --env APOLLO_GRAPH_REF="<your-graph-ref>" \
  --env APOLLO_KEY="<your-graph-api-key>" \
  --mount "type=bind,source=/home/user/router.yaml,target=/dist/config/router.yaml" \
  --rm \
  ghcr.io/apollographql/router:<router-image-version>
```

<Note>

Both local and container paths must be specified as absolute paths.

</Note>

In this example we are mounting a file from the host system (`/home/user/router.yaml`) in place of the default configuration provided in the image at `/dist/config/router.yaml`.

## Passing command-line arguments to the router binary

By default, the `router` command invoked inside the published container doesn't set any of the [available command-line options](/router/configuration/overview#command-line-options). To set them, append the desired option(s) to the `docker run` command. 

For example, to start the router using the `--log debug` option, use the following `docker run` command with the option added at the end:

```bash {5}
docker run -p 4000:4000 \
  --env APOLLO_GRAPH_REF="<your-graph-ref>" \
  --env APOLLO_KEY="<your-graph-api-key>" \
  --rm \
  ghcr.io/apollographql/router:<router-image-version> --log debug
```

## Debugging your container

You can debug your container by setting the `entrypoint` in a `docker run` command:

```bash
docker run -p 4000:4000 \
  --env APOLLO_GRAPH_REF="<your graph>" \
  --env APOLLO_KEY="<your key>" \
  --mount "type=bind,source=/router.yaml,target=/dist/config/router.yaml" \
  --rm \
  --interactive \
  --tty \
  --entrypoint=bash \
  ghcr.io/apollographql/router:<image version>
dist# pwd
/dist
dist# ls
config	router	schema
dist# exit
exit
```

In this example, we've added both interactive and tty flags, and we've changed the entrypoint of the image to be a bash shell.

### Running the debug container to investigate memory issues

```bash
docker run -p 4000:4000 \
  --env APOLLO_GRAPH_REF="<your graph>" \
  --env APOLLO_KEY="<your key>" \
  --mount "type=bind,source=/data,target=/dist/data"
  --rm \
  ghcr.io/apollographql/router:<image version>-debug
```

The router runs under the control of [heaptrack](https://github.com/KDE/heaptrack). The heaptrack output is saved to the `/data` directory. The output can be analyzed directly using `heaptrack_gui` or `heaptrack_print` or shared with Apollo support.

## Specifying the supergraph

If you don't want to automatically update your supergraph via [Apollo Uplink](/federation/managed-federation/uplink/), or you don't have connectivity to access Apollo Uplink from your environment, you have two options:

### Using a local supergraph file

You can manually specify the details of your supergraph in a `docker run` command:

```bash
docker run -p 4000:4000 \
  --mount "type=bind,source=/docker.graphql,target=/dist/schema/local.graphql" \
  --rm \
  ghcr.io/apollographql/router:<image version> -c config/router.yaml -s schema/local.graphql
```

In this example, we have to mount the local definition of the supergraph into our image, _and_ specify the location of the file. It doesn't have to be mounted in the `/dist/schema` directory, but it's a reasonable location to use. We must specify the configuration file location as well, since overriding the default params will override our default config file location. In this case, since we don't want to change our router configuration but want to make sure it's used, we just specify the default location of the default configuration.

### Using a graph artifact reference

⚠️ This option is in preview and doesn't support hot-reloading of schemas.

Set the `APOLLO_GRAPH_ARTIFACT_REFERENCE` environment variable to use the supergraph schema from a graph artifact:

```bash
docker run -p 4000:4000 \
  --env APOLLO_KEY="<your-graph-api-key>" \
  --env APOLLO_GRAPH_ARTIFACT_REFERENCE="<your-graph-artifact-reference>" \
  --rm \
  ghcr.io/apollographql/router:<router-image-version>
```

When you set this option, the router uses the schema from the specified graph artifact instead of Apollo Uplink.
The router still fetches entitlements and persisted queries from Uplink.

For more information on graph artifacts, see the [Router CLI Configuration Reference](/graphos/routing/configuration/cli#--graph-artifact-reference).

## Building your own container

<Note>

This section is aimed at developers familiar with tooling such as `docker` and `git` who wish to make their own DIY container images. The script documented here is not a part of the router product, but an illustrative example of what's involved in making your own images.

</Note>

In the `dockerfiles/diy` directory, we now provide a script, `build_docker_image.sh` which illustrates how to build your own docker images from either our released tarballs or from a git commit hash or tag. Here's how to use it:

```bash
% ./build_docker_image.sh -h
Usage: build_docker_image.sh [-b [-r <repo>]] [-d] [<release>]
	-b build docker image from the default repo, if not present build from a released version
	-d build debug image, router will run under control of heaptrack
	-r build docker image from a specified repo, only valid with -b flag
	<release> a valid release. If [-b] is specified, this is optional
	Example 1: Building HEAD from the repo
		build_docker_image.sh -b
	Example 2: Building HEAD from a different repo
		build_docker_image.sh -b -r /Users/anon/dev/router
	Example 3: Building tag from the repo
		build_docker_image.sh -b v0.9.1
	Example 4: Building commit hash from the repo
		build_docker_image.sh -b 7f7d223f42af34fad35b898d976bc07d0f5440c5
	Example 5: Building tag v0.9.1 from the released version
		build_docker_image.sh v0.9.1
	Example 6: Building a debug image with tag v0.9.1 from the released version
		build_docker_image.sh -d v0.9.1
```

The example uses [debian:bullseye-slim image](https://hub.docker.com/_/debian/) for the final image build. Feel free to modify the script to use images which better suit your own needs, but be careful if using the `-d` flag because it makes the assumption that there is a `heaptrack` package available to install.